


today, too, your smiling face will save me

by seiza_no_sora



Category: BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Misaki Gets This Bread, afterglow never existed in this timeline yeah i know i just committed a blasphemy, apartment ghost au, halloween fic (kinda), kanon arisa and married baker wives taesaaya make appearances, moca is a ghost who haunts misaki's bachelor pad, not graphic tho, past teen pregnancy mention but v brief and didn't happen to any of the bandori girls, tw: past suicide mention yeah that's a thing, very loosely based on a soraru song
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 04:53:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17053520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seiza_no_sora/pseuds/seiza_no_sora
Summary: When Misaki moved into her new apartment for university, she expected noisy neighbours, creaky floorboards, and maybe a bit of dust and grime. But what she certainly didn't anticipate was a bona fide, VERY much unwanted ghostly roommate by the name of Aoba Moca to come in the package deal. It was just her luck, wasn't it?





	today, too, your smiling face will save me

**Author's Note:**

> hello hello i wrote this mocamisa ghost au fic for the [bandori hallowzine 2018](https://twitter.com/gbp_hallowzine) !! it kinda got away from me and became much longer than expected, but hope you enjoy!! it's loosely based on [yurayura](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43qJQMmTNZo) by soraru.

Kicking the last emptied cardboard box into a corner, Misaki straightened up with a groan of effort. She wiped wearily at her brow as she surveyed the area. The important appliances, such as her microwave and the mini-fridge she’d salvaged from her mum’s basement, were in place; as were the essential furniture, including a worn but comfortable couch and a bookshelf stocked with the necessary textbooks. All-in-all, it didn’t look bad. It was a little dingy and a little sparse with only minimal furnishings and personal effects, but it was more than enough to serve her purposes. She nodded with a vague sense of satisfaction, deciding a break was in order.

 

Sinking onto the couch with a grateful sigh, Misaki opened up her laptop and immediately navigated to her university’s student portal. She figured she could take this chance to have a look at her timetable for the semester; see where her classes were and maybe plan a tour around the campus so she wouldn’t be hopelessly lost once uni started.

 

She moved the cursor to hover over the corresponding link in the sidebar and clicked down on it. But the page that appeared after loading was the fees and payments page instead of her class schedule. Misaki blinked, eyebrows furrowing. Had she accidentally twitched the cursor over to another link right before clicking?

 

She made to move the pointer over the correct link again, but it didn’t seem to want to cooperate, dragging and jerking vaguely in the direction Misaki had guided it in. She drew a long, emphatic stroke to the left on the mousepad, and watched with wide eyes as the cursor shot violently down to the taskbar and began clicking at random, opening app after app.

 

Was it a virus? No - Misaki rarely downloaded anything from disreputable sites, and was always very vigilant whenever she did. A hacker, then? But what reason would they have to hijack _her_ laptop? She was just an ordinary soon-to-be-university student.

 

As Misaki was staring open-mouthed at the increasingly wild activities of the cursor, the sudden tone of the doorbell cut through her daze. She started a little, remembering that Kanon was due to come by around this time to help with the move, since she lived in the same area. Misaki shook herself, leaving her laptop on the coffee table in front of the couch to go greet her upperclassman at the door.

 

Kanon’s smile was warm and bright when she met Misaki. But something must have looked off in the younger girl’s expression, for the expression soon slid from Kanon’s face.

 

“Misaki-chan...?” She ventured tentatively. “Is the move not going well? You look a little pale…”

 

“Ah… no, it’s not that. Everything’s been happening pretty smoothly, actually...” Misaki hesitated, debating whether to just brush it off and spare Kanon the worry. But she knew the other girl would just end up being even more concerned if she did that - Kanon was much too caring for her own good. “Something really weird is going on with my laptop. Actually, could you come in and have a look at it?”

 

Kanon nodded, and Misaki let her into the apartment, guiding her to sit in front of the coffee table. The upperclassman’s eyes widened upon seeing the spasming cursor and the dozens of windows open on Misaki’s laptop. She let out a quiet “fuee…!”, instinctively scooting back on the couch. “What’s going on...?”

 

“That’s what I’d like to know!” Misaki groaned, putting her head in her hands. “It just started going crazy as soon as I turned it on.”

 

“Ah, Misaki-chan, look!” Kanon exclaimed, pointing to the screen.

 

Microsoft Word had been brought to the forefront of all the windows, and black text was slowly scrawling across the white document. The two girls leaned closer to the screen to read it.

 

**Hello~ Can you see me?**

 

Misaki’s eyebrow raised incredulously. “Is this some sort of joke?” She demanded, eyes trained on the webcam above the laptop’s screen. The green indicator light was off at the moment, but that didn’t mean anything; Misaki had read that hackers could disable it so their victims didn’t know they were being watched.

 

“I don’t know who you are or why you’ve decided to hijack my laptop in particular, but… but, uh…” She felt herself quickly running out of steam as she scrambled for her next words. “Just, why me?”

 

They waited with bated breath for the next few seconds, before another line of text began to fade onto the screen.

 

**Fufu~ how very rude, mistaking Moca-chan for a fancy computer criminal. I’m just a poor little ghost~**

 

_A “fancy computer criminal”? What year is this person from?_ Misaki thought sarcastically, before she registered the proceeding sentence.

 

“A _ghost?!”_ Misaki and Kanon exclaimed simultaneously, the latter immediately beginning to tremble.

 

“Okay, now I know this has to be a joke,” Misaki said, finding her indignation again.  “Do you really expect me to buy that? Now, tell me what you’re _really_ in my laptop for.”

 

**Aww, you don’t believe me? I guess I’ll just have to prove it to you~ If I were a hacker, I wouldn’t be able to do this~!**

 

The sight that met Misaki’s eyes next made her breath hitch and a cold sweat bead on her forehead.

 

Before, the text had simply appeared across the screen. Now, the keys on her laptop’s keyboard were now quite clearly pressing down by themselves, albeit slowly. But there was absolutely no one there.

 

**Ehehe~ Moca-chan can type like this too, if she concentrates hard enough~**

 

“Kanon-san…” Misaki whispered hoarsely. “You’re seeing this too, right?”

 

“Fuee, y-yes…!” Kanon replied, voice shaking with fear. “G-ghost-san, please don’t hurt us…!”

 

The keyboard’s keys continued to depress at random, as if the culprit was having fun hitting them. The clicking noises frayed the edges of Misaki’s sanity even further, as she reeled from having everything she’d known to be true about the world turned upside down. “Okay, okay!” she yelled, rubbing viciously at her temples. “Moca-san, was it? I believe you, just please stop doing that!”

 

After the ghost complied and reassured the terrified Kanon (without use of the keyboard) that she had no intentions of harming them, the two girls’ curiosity overcame their trepidation. They began to shoot a series of rapid-fire questions at the ghost, which she answered fairly readily, but with a dose of drawling slyness that she somehow managed to convey solely through the use of ampersands.

 

“So, let me get this straight,” Misaki said, when she and Kanon had run out of things to ask. “Your name is Aoba Moca, you’re nineteen years old, and you died in this apartment in the year 2005. You’ve been “unconscious” until now, and for some reason only woke up and realised you were a ghost today, when I moved in. Is that right?”

 

**Yep, pretty much~ You’re a good listener, Misaki-chin~**

 

“ _Misaki-chin_?” The dark-haired girl muttered, voice involuntarily rising in pitch on the last syllable. She felt her face flush, but moved vehemently onwards. “Anyway, that’s all well and good, but are you confined to this apartment? Can you go outside the door?”

 

There was no response for a few moments, as Moca presumably checked the answer to that question. Then:

 

**Nope~ When I try to get out the door, it feels like I’m running into a wall. Looks like you’re gonna be stuck with Moca-chan for the next eternity, fufu~**

 

Misaki’s head dropped into her hands for the nth time that day. “Of course,” she moaned, tone heavy with long-held suffering. “Of course it has to be me...”

 

Kanon only laid a hand on Misaki’s shoulder in sympathy.

 

* * *

 

It was annoying at first. Very much so. Misaki wasn’t at all used to having to share her space with someone else. Even back at home, her mother had worked long hours and her sister had spent her afternoons either doing club activities or at a friend’s house, leaving Misaki on her own most days. And she hadn’t minded at all at all; it was in fact her preferred state of being. So, being forced to live with another person, especially someone as nosy as Moca, was pretty much a rude shock.

 

Endlessly curious about the world of 2018, Moca loved to examine every furnishing and contraption in Misaki’s apartment. For things outside of the small slice of Japan offered by the apartment, Moca would resort to the internet. She spent her time inhabiting Misaki’s laptop, looking up article after article on various subjects, and loved consulting the other girl on basically all of them. Often, just when Misaki would finally forget about the other inhabitant of her apartment and settle in to do some homework, the blue and white interface of Microsoft Word would pop up and obscure the windows she was working in. A line of black text would scroll across, such as:

 

**Hey, hey, Misaki-chin~ Look at this! They have little robots called Roombas that’ll clean your floor for you~ Aren’t they just the most adorable critters? You should buy one for our place~**

 

“They’re also expensive as hell, you know,” Misaki would sigh. “Besides, why would a university student living in a crappy apartment need something like that? Stop bothering me so I can do this business case study.”

 

Or:

 

**Computers sure have gotten pretty small and compact, haven’t they~? And fast, too~ My one was a big lump of brick that would give out if you poked it too hard. You young whippersnappers are so lucky~!**

 

“My laptop is actually pretty old in terms of age,” Misaki would explain in a beleaguered voice. “It’s a few hard knocks from conking out, and the way you’re possessing it all the time really isn’t helping. Now, will you _please_ let me finish this online quiz with literally ten minutes left on the timer?”

 

After a few weeks of similar occurrences, Misaki was fed up.

 

“Isn’t there a way you can talk that doesn’t involve totally disrupting my work?” She demanded. “You can go inside my laptop and input text without the keyboard; can’t you, I don’t know, project yourself through the microphone or something?”

 

**Ooh, now there’s an option I hadn’t thought of~ You’re so smart, Misaki-chin~**

 

Word minimised itself, followed by a sudden crackle from the speakers of the laptop. Then: _‘Hello, hello~ This is the great and adorable Moca-chan, reporting in~!’_

 

Misaki blinked. The voice that emitted from the battered speakers was somehow both exactly what she was expecting, and nothing like it. The words were delivered in a lazy drawl with a mischievous edge; exactly what Moca’s typing style would imply. But the tonal quality of her voice was oddly high and sweet. It almost made Misaki curious of how the other looked in the flesh. But for now, she was simply grateful at having solved this major problem.

 

And for some inexplicable reason, the removal of this particular annoyance smoothed out the other issues she’d been having with the ghostly girl. Eventually, Misaki and Moca fell in a rhythm. Moca gradually learned Misaki’s habits and needs. She would disappear for a while if she sensed that the dark-haired girl was very focused in her work or struggling to meet a deadline, leaving Misaki a few hours of much-appreciated silence. Sometimes, Misaki would look up, dazed and exhausted from hours of intense concentration, to find a steaming mug of coffee brewed just the way she liked it on the desk. And Moca was always there, ready with her own brand of teasing sympathy whenever Misaki needed to complain about a class or something frustrating that had happened to her.

 

It was nice, Misaki admitted; far, far better than what she’d resigned herself to when she’d first found out there was a ghost inhabiting her apartment. But she didn’t realise just how significantly Moca had affected her until one little, seemingly trivial moment.

 

* * *

 

Misaki was sat with Kanon and Arisa, a fellow first-year, in a crowded café on their university campus. The three had arranged to meet up for lunch and to catch up with each other, something they’d neglected to do recently due to their respective workloads. The topic of conversation had switched to schoolwork, and Kanon and Arisa were wrapped deep in conversation about a class they shared when Misaki felt a vibration in her pocket.

 

She pulled her phone out to see a text from what looked to be herself. It was, in actual fact, Moca texting her using the iMessage function on the junky secondhand iPad Misaki had bought just for this purpose. Moca had complained that she got bored and lonely in the apartment by herself when Misaki was in class or at her job, as the latter always took both her phone and laptop with her, and Misaki had given in. It was a little confusing seeing every message doubled in both grey and blue, but it worked just fine for their needs.

 

**Misaki - > [ knock knock ;) ]**

 

Misaki sighed and decided to humour her, since she couldn’t really contribute to her friends’ conversation right now.

 

**Misaki - > [ Who’s there? ]**

**Misaki - > [ boo~ ]**

**Misaki - > [ Boo who? ]**

**Misaki - > [ aww no need to cry, it’s just a moca-chan joke~ ]**

 

Misaki had to stop herself from groaning out loud. That was even worse than the ghost girl’s usual attempts.

 

**Misaki - > [ That was atrocious, Moca. ]**

**Misaki - > [ ehh, no way~ the great moca-chan only utters the best of witticisms~! ]**

**Misaki - > [ Yeah, keep telling yourself that.]**

 

They snarked back and forth for a few minutes, and before Misaki knew it, her lips were pulling upwards into a grin, chest light and inexplicably fluttery.

 

“Misaki-chan, did you hear what I said?”

 

A sudden nudge made Misaki startle upright. “S-sorry, Kanon-san, I got distracted…”

 

“Ah, that’s okay,” Kanon shook her head with a smile. “I was just wondering if you’ve joined any clubs or societies yet?”

 

“Not really,” Misaki admitted. “None of them have looked appealing…”

 

“In that case…” Kanon began, eyes brightening a little. “I know I’ve asked you this before, but would you like to join my band?”

 

Seeing Misaki’s mouth immediately open in rejection, Kanon quickly went on, voice uncharacteristically firm and excited. “Um, I know you said the music stuff you did in high school was just a passing hobby, but I heard you play, and you’re really, really amazing! And it’s not just that we need another member, it’s, well…” She looked away, gaze once again shy and uncertain. “I-I’m worried about you, Misaki-chan. You only go out for uni and work, and you go straight home only to study really hard by yourself… I-isn’t it… lonely…?”

 

Misaki was speechless for a moment. Then, her eyes softened. “Kanon-san, thank you for worrying about me; I appreciate it a lot. But I really do need to focus on my schoolwork. Besides,” she directed a lopsided grin at her upperclassman, “I’m not living alone anymore, remember?”

 

Kanon looked blank for a moment, and then her eyes widened in realisation. Next to her, Arisa raised an eyebrow. “Did you get a roommate or something, Okusawa-san?”

 

“Ahaha, yeah, something like that…” Misaki laughed a little nervously, scratching her head.

 

“Actually, you know…” Arisa began, eyes turned away in thought. “You’re looking quite a lot brighter lately, Okusawa-san.”

 

“A-am I?” Misaki replied, wondering where this was going.

 

“Yeah. I remember you always being a little detached from everything before, like you were kinda just coasting along. But now, you seem a lot more… passionate, I guess.”

 

“Really…” Misaki answered slowly, blinking in surprise. “Maybe it’s just because I’ve finally gotten used to university life.”

 

“Hmm, I don’t think so.” Arisa shook her head. “You were pretty distant in high school as well. Well, whatever happened to change you, whether it’s getting a roommate or not, I’m glad. Being like this suits you, Okusawa-san.” The blonde girl shot her a rare, genuine smile.

 

And it was true, Misaki realised as she was making her way back home that afternoon. If Moca weren’t around, Misaki would just be coming home to a dreary, empty apartment with nothing to look forward to. She’d thought she liked being alone, but she’d been in that state for so long that she’d never realised how faded the hues of her world had become. She had been stagnant, simply drifting in the still pool of life where nothing had come close enough to make even a tiny ripple. But now, a whimsical breeze by the name of Aoba Moca was stirring the waters for the first time, making tiny waves and reflecting the colours of the world in the droplets she splashed up.

 

A soft laugh escaped Misaki as she fitted her key into the lock on her front door. The idea of finding out her crappy university apartment was haunted being the best thing to ever happen to her was patently ridiculous, and yet, here she was.

 

Stepping inside her home, she called out a greeting to her ghostly roommate.

 

* * *

 

Misaki was lying on the couch with her laptop one afternoon in September, eyes half open as she watched some slice-of-life anime. It was the lull right before the semester final exams, and she’d seen fit to give herself a break after studying the entire day. The soft pattering of the rain outside combined with the low hum of the show threatened to make Misaki’s eyelids fall shut altogether, before a voice cut through her sleepiness.

 

_‘Hey, Misa-chin… Are you satisfied?’_

 

Misaki’s groggy brain took a few seconds to correctly parse the words, and then she sat bolt upright, cheeks flaming. _“Misa-chin?!”_ She squeaked, voice an entire octave higher than its usual pitch.

 

A giggle floated from the speakers. _‘You really aren’t good with nicknames, are you? You reacted like that the first time I called you “Misaki-chin” as well~’_

 

Misaki coughed a few times before replying. “Yeah, w-well… why do you need to shorten my name like that, anyway? It’s not like it’s hard to say or anything.”

 

_‘Ehehe, it’s just one of the cute habits of the quirky Moca-chan~ But, Misa-chin, you haven’t answered my question~’_

 

“Sorry…” The rest of Moca’s query had flown from Misaki’s mind as soon as she’d registered the nickname. “Could you repeat it again?”

 

_‘I said, are you satisfied?’_ The voice crackling from Misaki’s laptop when Moca reiterated the question was noticeably softer, devoid of the lighthearted, teasing quality that usually characterised it. _‘You’re so serious about this business degree you’re doing. But I’ve been watching you, Misa-chin, and you just work and work all the time without looking like you’re enjoying yourself. And you never bring any friends over, either…’_

 

Misaki considered for a moment, then answered. “The point isn’t to enjoy what I’m doing. I have to work hard, so I can make a decent living later on. What I’m passionate about…” She thought of the music programs in her laptop, untouched since she’d begun university. “It doesn’t exactly lend itself to financial security. And I _have_ friends, but I’m happy just meeting them once in a while. I can’t… can’t let them get in the way of doing well. I can’t afford to fall short.”

 

Misaki recalled the nights of being so, so young, standing behind a closed door and listening to her mother sobbing herself to sleep because no company would employ a woman who had dropped out of high school, and that meant she couldn’t put food on the table for the very daughter whose birth had robbed her of her future. She squeezed her eyes shut.

 

_‘Mmm...’_ Moca hummed There was a strange edge to her voice. _‘If you say so. Just remember, you only have one life, and you should try to live it to the fullest~’_

 

“Thanks, I’ll… keep that in mind,” Misaki replied.

 

A few seconds of silence ensued that were neither comfortable nor uncomfortable. Misaki was the one to break it this time. “Hey, Moca… can I ask you a question as well?”

 

_‘Go ahead~’_

 

“Is there anything you regret?” Misaki asked, then winced. “Sorry, I meant… what’s keeping you here as a ghost? Ah, shit, that sounded even worse... I didn’t mean to imply I don’t like having you here-”

 

_‘Bread.’_ Moca stated decisively, effectively cutting off Misaki’s slowly devolving ramble.

 

There was another silence, this one laced with confusion.

 

“Uh… can you elaborate on that…?” Misaki prompted, after a few seconds.

 

_‘My friend Saaya made the most delicious buns ever~ I’d really like to eat one again, if it’s possible~’_

 

“...Huh,” Misaki said. “Alright, I won’t question that. That would be a little hard to do, though, since you’re incorporeal and all…” Her eyes widened suddenly. “Oh! Halloween is coming up.”

 

_‘Ooh, I see what you’re getting at~ That’s the day they say the spirits can manifest in the living world at sunset, isn’t it~?’_

 

“Well,” Misaki chuckled sheepishly, “it’s just superstition, but couldn’t hurt to try, right? If you give me your friend’s address and what type of bread you want, I can get some for you in case the thing about Halloween really is true.”

 

_‘Aww, you’d really go so far for little ol’ Moca-chan? I’m so touched~!’_

 

The blush that had subsided earlier attacked Misaki’s face again in full force. “I-it’s nothing, really! I just thought it must be really frustrating to be stuck in this apartment like this, and…”

 

_‘There, there, Misa-chin~ Moca-chan knows you care, after all~’_

 

As Moca giggled and Misaki sputtered, the dark-haired girl remembered the strange and abrupt way Moca had answered her question. Was there more to it than what Moca had told her, or…?

 

_No matter,_ Misaki decided. _Let’s get this bread._

 

* * *

 

Pulling up to the address her ghostly friend had given her, Misaki exhaled in relief when she saw the words “Yamabuki Bakery” painted across the shopfront. She didn’t know why she hadn’t considered the possibility of the shop not existing anymore until she was already on the road, but she was glad it hadn’t come true. Parking the car, she pushed open the bakery door with a pleasant tinkling sound from the little bell affixed to the top.

 

“Welcome~” A dreamy voice greeted her. Misaki’s gaze swept past the joyful Halloween decorations lining the pastry displays to the counter, finding a tall, graceful woman with long brown hair and spring green eyes. She frowned; that didn’t seem to match the description she’d been given. Tentatively, Misaki responded: “Uh… hello. I’m looking for a Yamabuki Saaya-san, is she here…?”

 

“Oh, yes,” the woman smiled. “I’m Yamabuki Tae; Saaya’s my wife. She’s just in the back, I’ll get her for you now.”

 

Tae disappeared into a doorway behind the counter, and reappeared a moment later with another woman in tow. She matched Moca’s description perfectly: a heart-shaped face, wavy, rosy-brown hair done up in a ponytail, and warm blue eyes. “Hi!” She greeted Misaki cheerfully. “How can I help you today?”

 

“Ah,” Misaki smiled back, comforted by Saaya’s friendliness. “I’d like to buy some pork floss buns, please. A friend recommended them to me; she says they’re especially good at this bakery.”

 

Both Tae and Saaya blinked and shared a look. “Pork floss buns…” Saaya said slowly in thought. “We stopped selling those about… oh, sixteen years ago, now? They were too unpopular for us to keep making them…”

 

“... Oh.” Misaki said, looking away a little frantically. She hadn’t predicted this at all. “Uh… My friend only visited this area once around that time, I think; that’s why she doesn’t know…”

 

“I see…” Saaya said, watching the younger woman inquisitively. “Well, if you don’t mind waiting here for a little bit, I can go and bake one up specially for you. They’re not difficult to make, and since you went to all the trouble to come here…”

 

Misaki quickly met Saaya’s gaze again, eyes hopeful. “Please, if it’s not too much trouble! I’m happy to pay extra.”  


“Don’t worry about it,” Saaya grinned. “Won’t be a minute!” She entered through another doorway into what was presumably the kitchen, humming a happy little tune. That left Tae standing behind the counter, and Misaki leaning a little awkwardly against it.

 

“You know…” The other woman started after a while. Her voice had a soft and unfocused quality to it, but her eyes, trained on Misaki like her wife’s had been a few minutes ago, shone with a sharp and intelligent light. “The only reason why we sold those pork floss buns at all was because of one regular who’d come in and buy basically all of them at once.”

 

Misaki started imperceptibly and turned to give Tae her full attention.

 

“That girl, she really had an unrivalled passion for bread. It’s as if it was her only love in life,” the woman mused, voice coloured with a tinge of sadness. “You kind of remind me of her, actually, with that fashion sense and general air.

 

“But - no. Now that I look more closely, you’re different. She always seemed a little lost, like she was constantly searching for something and never managed to reach it. You…” Tae paused for a moment, and Misaki waited, not daring to breathe. “You look like you’ve found it already.”

 

Before Misaki could respond, Saaya swept from the kitchen with a tray in hand holding two buns with a heavenly smell wafting from them. Without missing a beat, Tae pulled out a paper bag from behind the counter and used her gloved hand to pack the bread in. She handed it to Misaki with a cheerful, “Here you go~” as if she hadn’t just completely blindsided the younger woman with a single passing observation. Misaki took it numbly, mumbling out a thanks as she paid. On her way out of the shop, she paused, debating with herself.

 

Then, she turned back. “Saaya-san, Tae-san,” Misaki said, directing a smile at them both. “Moca says she’s happy for you and hopes you have a good life.”

 

And with that, she exited the shop in a tinkle of bells, leaving the two women to gape after her, tears beginning to track down Saaya’s face.

 

* * *

 

 The traffic wasn’t moving. The traffic wasn’t moving, and the sun was already beginning to sink into the horizon in a brilliant flare of orange. Everyone was in a rush to get home from work, and Misaki understood, she really did, but she had a very time-sensitive matter at hand here! The next time the stream of cars on the road showed signs of inching forward, Misaki swerved to the right, heedless of the honking drivers around her, and parked haphazardly next to the kerb. Grabbing the paper bag from the passenger seat, she got out and started off on a sprint down the sidewalk. She’d already made most of the trip by car, and if she ran without a break, she could get there in time.

 

The sun was half dipped behind the skyline when Misaki finally burst into her apartment, drenched in sweat and completely winded. She staggered into the living room, opened her mouth to call out Moca’s name, and stopped dead in her tracks.

 

The translucent figure of a girl stood before Misaki, facing the sunset that streamed through the glass balcony door. She was ever-so-slightly taller than her, clad in a pair of black shorts and a white shirt under a grey parka. The edges of her form wavered and sparkled tenuously in the scarlet glow.

 

“Welcome home, Misa-chin,” Moca murmured, not turning around. “I’m glad you made it.”

 

The crackly version of her voice filtered through the laptop’s old speakers had not done it justice. She sounded endlessly softer and sweeter, and Misaki’s heart throbbed painfully in her chest.

 

“M-Moca,” she breathed. “I… I got what you asked for…” She tried to step towards the other girl, to hand her the paper bag, but Moca held up a hand.

 

“Thank you, Misa-chin,” the ghost girl answered with a smile in her voice. “But that doesn’t matter, now; Moca-chan has something to confess. Will you listen?”

 

Misaki’s forehead knitted. She wanted to be angry - why Moca had sent her all the way across the city for something she didn’t even want? But something stopped her, held her back, and so she gave the affirmative.

 

Moca inhaled, standing quietly for a second or two. Then, she began.

 

“I’m sorry I lied to you, Misa-chin. Although I do wish I could’ve eaten Saaya’s bread one last time, that’s not my ultimate regret.”

 

Misaki listened in silence as Moca described her life. How she had simply drifted along, never forging a deep connection with anyone around her. How she’d had dreams and aspirations, so _many_ of them, but had never acted on even one. How her entire existence had felt like a knotted, neverending thread of dissatisfaction and wasted potential.

 

An image intruded into Misaki’s mind, born not from her own imagination - a hand, limp and outstretched on the floor and a bottle, knocked over with small white pills spilling from it onto the carpet. The scene was blurred and dim, as if the original witness’s vision had been fading.

 

“I slept away most of my time when I wasn’t eating anyway, so I thought, why not just do that forever?” A wry and endlessly sad laugh spilled from Moca’s mouth, and her translucent fist clenched. “But something out there apparently decided that my work here wasn’t done, because the first thing I saw when I woke up wasn’t the pearly gates, but a sweaty and harassed-looking girl heaving boxes into my old apartment.

 

“I guess I felt a kinship with you, Misa-chin. Someone who was as apathetic as I’d been in life, with a passion she didn’t want to act on and walls around her heart that let no one in. I decided then and there that I wanted to save you, to stop you from going down the path I went. Funny the way things ended up instead, huh?”

 

Moca’s foot pivoted, and she finally turned to face Misaki. Through the liquid clouding her vision, Misaki saw short, silver hair framing a round, lovely face, a small nose, and eyes illuminated into pools of turquoise fire by the light of the sun behind them. Moca’s lips lifted and her eyes crinkled and her face transformed into a beautiful smile, shining with affection. She stepped closer to Misaki.

 

“Thank you for being the first real friend I’ve ever had. Thank you for putting up with me, for giving me your time and space, for letting me know a feeling I never had the chance to feel in life. Thank you, most of all, for saving me.”

 

Misaki couldn’t see anything now through the tears streaming from her eyes, nor utter a word through the sobs tearing from her throat. She wanted to reach out and clutch Moca like her life depended on it, tell her that she was wrong, that _Moca_ was the one who’d brought colour to Misaki’s life and saved her in every way possible, and god, don’t leave, _please don’t go I can’t live without you-_

 

But Moca took both of Misaki’s trembling hands, lacing their fingers together, and her hands were so warm and soft. She leaned forward and kissed every tear from Misaki’s red, raw cheeks. “Don’t cry, silly Misa-chin,” she whispered gently. “You shouldn’t be sad when Moca-chan loves you so much~”

 

Moca wrapped her arms around Misaki’s waist and rested her head on her shoulder, closing her eyes. There she stayed, a tender, grounding weight against Misaki who felt as if she were shattering until at last, the sun slipped fully behind the horizon and Moca dissolved into a thousand particles of light, spilling through Misaki’s outstretched fingers and winking out against the dying crimson sky.

 

* * *

 

It was a perfect morning in November. The temperature wasn’t too cold and the sun shone high in the sky, making the multicoloured autumn foliage on the university campus glow. Students rushed to and fro on their way to class, or walked sedately in groups. One such pair - a girl with short, dark hair and a girl with wavy blue hair - chatted to each other as they strolled along the side of a building.

 

The dark-haired girl paused beneath a flyer with bright and loud colours, emblazoned with the words: “HELLO, HAPPY WORLD!, A BAND TO MAKE THE WORLD SMILE, IS RECRUITING A NEW MEMBER!” Beside her, the blue-haired girl followed her gaze and gasped, hands flying to her mouth in excitement. The dark-haired girl nodded to herself, took the flyer from the wall with a decisive rip, and was immediately tackled into a hug by her squealing companion.

 

Misaki, having successfully gotten both a band flyer and her upperclassman to cling to her like an overjoyed koala, looked to the sky and smiled softly. _Thank you, Moca. I won’t ever forget you._

 

And on she walked, holding her dreams in her hand and her memories in her heart.


End file.
